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Things I miss while I am traveling

Yesterday I posted about the things that I love about Brazil. Things I can only experience while I am traveling. Of course there are also some things that I miss about home…

Clean, public restrooms. I know it sounds silly, but when traveling with two young kids it is nice to be able to find a bathroom at a moments notice. As much as I plan ahead…”try anyway, even if you don’t have to go”… they inevitably wait until the last minute before frantically announcing that they need to go RIGHT NOW!! Yesterday I got to see a little too much while trying to supervise my youngest in the men’s room. Embarrassed, I used my broken Portuguese to ask one of the other young men to keep an eye on him for me as I averted my eyes (and probably turned six shades of pink!)

Dryers. This is something I think I would miss if I lived here because who has time to hang dry and iron all of their clothes?? However, I am finding that the process of doing laundry while I am here on vacation with nothing better to do is kind of therapeutic.

3G Internet connection. Thank you Verizon for not including Brazil in the countries that you support internationally. Did you know that Verizon iPhone’s don’t support SIM cards? Maybe it’s a good thing not to be connected 24-7…

Driving. I’m used to being able to go wherever I want, whenever I want. I probably could drive here if I really wanted to, but without knowing the unstated rules of the road I think I am better off waiting for someone to drive me around.

Don’t get me wrong. These are minor inconveniences, and I actually had a hard time thinking of very many things that I really missed because there are so many other things here to replace them. There is never a shortage of delicious food, smiling faces and a sense of togetherness that I will definitely miss when I head back to the United States.

I’d love to know what everyone else misses when they are traveling, whether it’s for a weekend, a month, or an extended stay!